Since the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation destined to remain unmarried after the war killed so many young men. She sets out for Winchester and finds a job and a room of her own. There, she finds friendship in the broderers, a group of women charged with embroidering cushions and kneelers for the cathedral. As the threat of a second Great War looms, Violet must decide what she is willing to risk to protect the life she has made for herself.